R.I.P. and Thanks for Everything

[Diabolical]

Tod Smith, 72.
Artist for Marvel and DC. He worked on Darkhawk, Peacemaker, Vigilante, Omega Men, What If? and more.

[anarky]

Jim Shooter, 73, cause of death likely cancer.

Again, fuck cancer.

[Tom Foolery]

Jim Shooter, 73, cause of death likely cancer.

Again, fuck cancer.

Wow. His accolades and contributions are too numerous to even begin naming. I think for most of us, he was shaping and shepherding the Marvel Universe we were introduced to when we started reading, even if we were too young to understand at the time. And then he continued to innovate and reshape the comic landscape with Valiant.

RIP Mr. Shooter, and thanks for everything.

[anarky]

Not to mention Defiant, which tanked. But not because of the stories. It was the one-two punch of Marvel's legal action draining their resources and the weird trading card zero issue that was a necessary prequel to everything else being way the fuck out of most readers' budgets. But I do give him credit for possibly the single ballsiest gimmick of the speculator era. Everything that actually came out was excellent.

Harbinger was fucking great. I know that's Valiant, but it still bears mentioning.

Also I'm sure you already know he's one of the two Marvel editors who was made into a G.I. Joe figure, all because thirteen heads couldn't neatly fit into seven rows of double screens, and because the other editor in question wrote that issue and has a goody sense of humor.

[Tom Foolery]

He wrote the first Superman/Flash race! Miller’s Daredevil run. Byrne’s FF run. Simonson’s Thor run. Stern’s Amazing Spidey run with the black costume. He added the Uncanny and made X-Men monthly. Alpha Flight. New Mutants. The original Armor Wars. Cap being ousted and John Walker taking over. The licenses for Transformers and GIJoe. Secret Wars. The original Mutant Massacre. X-Factor. Like, holy shit, it just keeps going.

[anarky]

Sal Buscema, 89. Probably not a popular opinion, but he's neck and neck with Erik Larsen as my favorite Spidey artist.

[Tom Foolery]

He was just a few days away from his 90th birthdsy.

His run on Spectacular Spidey was legendary. Over a hundred issues. And back then, we’d take runs like that for granted, because we were kids and didn’t know inconsistency was more common than not.

RIP Mr. Buscema and thank you for everything.

[anarky]

There was a brief time when Spectacular was by DeMatteis and Buscema, Amazing was by Michelinie and Larsen, and Adjectiveless was by McFarlane (but we won't hold the scripting part against him). This was followed by a brief time when Spectacular was by DeMatteis and Buscema, Amazing was by Michelinie and Bagley, and Adjectiveless was by Larsen (who, unlike Todd, is a decent writer, even if he was still finding his footing at this point).

Damn, we were eating good. (Especially considering the talent Marvel had on the X-books and Hulk at the time.)

Considering it was the "let's be hip and jump on the black suit craze with a cool new Spidey title," Web always seemed to be... just sorta there. You didn't feel you wasted your time if you read it, but you didn't feel you missed anything if you missed it, either.

[vynsane]

GOD Buscema's Harry Goblin and Tombstone were iconic.

SSM_200.jpg (1.62 MiB) Viewed 1130 times

SSM_139.jpg (603.77 KiB) Viewed 1130 times

[Diabolical]

I forgot about this painting I started and never finished several years ago.

The orange paint wasn't covering the pencil lines underneath and it really frustrated me. My last attempt was trying to cover it with the white, but I never went back to it.

[Diabolical]

The original image for context

[Tom Foolery]

That’s awesome.